Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Morenci senior Angel Ontiveros blocks a Bisbee hit during a double-header Oct. 26. The Wildcats posted a pair of three-set region wins.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The No. 15 Morenci Wildcats (10-6 seeding, 5.1942 rating) welcome the No. 12 Benson Bobcats (10-4, 7.1297) for the volleyball home finale Oct. 28. Morenci is at No. 25 Tombstone (7-9, 0.0772) Tuesday, Oct. 29 for the regular-season finale.
Currently, Morenci is fourth (5-5) in the East Region, Benson third (7-3), and Tombstone fifth (3-7). The rest of the East Region standings are Thatcher first (10-0), Pima second (10-1), Bisbee sixth (1-10), and Willcox seventh (0-10).
The rankings for the other region members are No. 1 for Thatcher (15-0 seeding, 20.7208 rating), No. 11 for Pima (11-3, 9.5155), No. 29 for Willcox (5-11, minus 3.0610), and No. 34 for Bisbee (3-11, minus 4.1115).
There is no region tournament for the 2A class. A play-in match will be held for No. 9-24 at the higher seed Nov. 5. The top 8 have a bye. Phoenix North High, 11-1 East Thomas Road, will host the state tourney for the play-in winners versus Nos. 1-8 Nov. 8-9.
The Wildcats have a 10-6 mark thus far in October, 5-5 in seeding matches and 5-1 in the Chandler Prep Invitational Tournament. An 11-2 overall mark, 5-1 in seeding matches and 6-1 in the Morenci Invitational, was posted by the Wildcats in September.
Morenci defeated Tombstone 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-16) Oct. 3, Willcox 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-23) Oct. 8, New Mexico Bayard Cobre 3-1 () Oct. 22, and Bisbee 3-0 twice (25-15, 25-20, 25-16 plus 25-18, 25-18, 28-26) Oct. 26. The losses were 3-0 (18-25, 19-25, 22-25) to Thatcher Oct. 1, 3-1 (21-25, 19-25, 25-21, 22-25) to Benson Oct. 8, 3-0 (15-25, 13-25, 15-25) to Pima Oct. 15, 3-0 (18-25, 13-25, 15-25) to New Mexico Silver Oct. 17, and 3-0 (13-25, 15-25, 10-25) to Thatcher Oct. 24.
The 2-day Chandler Prep Invitational had the Wildcats downing 1A East Region Duncan, 2A North Region Tuba City Greyhills, and 2A South Region Tucson Santa Rita in two sets apiece during pool play Oct. 4. The bracket portion resulted in 2-set wins over 2A Central Region Phoenix North Pointe Prep and 4A Black Canyon Region Phoenix Cortez. The loss was in two sets to 6A Southwest Region Glendale Copper Canyon Oct. 5.
